


Death Leaves Us Homesick

by TaraHarkon



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Canon Temporary Character Death, Character Death, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, Heavy Angst, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 06:06:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon
Summary: Taako had the Light of Creation. That much, Barry was certain of when he left pain suddenly lance through his leg. He stumbled and was pulled backward. Something had him. Taako turned and Barry shouted."Just go! Get that thing back to the ship. I'll be fine."Barry wasn't fine.





	Death Leaves Us Homesick

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from a poem by Emily Dickinson

Barry gasped as he tried to grab his wand off the ground with shaking hands. The vine wrapped around his thigh dug in tighter, pulling him towards the maw of the giant plant. Some distant, sarcastic part of him thought it was vaguely ironic a plant was trying to eat him right now, given the conversation he had with Merle that morning. Maybe the correct response to “Watch out for dangerous plants” _wasn’t_ “I’ll be fine with a little caesar dressing and a fork.” Maybe.

It hurt like an absolute bitch; the thorns tearing deep into his flesh. His hand closed on the bone handle of his wand and he whirled fast, blasting the plant with one of Lup’s favorite fire spells. The scorching ray hit the vines, and they dropped, separating from the plant. But they were still buried in his thigh.

Barry pulled himself clear of the danger posed by the plant itself and focused on the vine. That was when it did something he didn’t expect.. The end of the vine wrapped around his leg suddenly strained, tightening and twisting as it shredded his leg to ribbons. Barry was screaming, he knew he was screaming. And now he was afraid to pull the thorns out. Taking a few breaths, he started talking to himself to try to stay calm while he looked with detachment down at his own leg. He tried to pretend it wasn’t his, that this tattered mess of meat wasn’t attached to his body.

“Okay... so this is like... the...the superficial femoral artery... Which is absolutely not uh... not superficial at all. I mean, it’s s-surface level but...” Barry closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. “But that’s not like... not a minor thing?” His voice caught in his throat as the panic welled up in him. “So like... def...definitely not good to just, uh, let it bleed.”

   Still, he needed to get this vine off of him before it did more damage. Which would mean leaving the wounds open. He put his hand on his thigh, more gauging to see if he could maybe close the wound enough to get out of here than anything else. His hand came away so coated in blood that it was black and Barry went pale. He knew well enough to know that there was no coming back from this.

Fumbling with his wand for a moment, Barry focused and quietly murmured the words to a spell he didn’t use often.

“Lup?”

He spoke quietly, trying to keep his voice steady. Then he heard her voice in the air around him as the spell connected.

“Oh! Hey babe, you spooked me for a second there. What’s up?”

He licked his lips nervously.

“Did uh... did Taako make it back to the ship okay?”

Lup’s voice went from cheerful to slightly worried. Barry could almost picture the way her ears would drop as she tilted her head to the side and gave him that little frown.

“Yeah, babe, he did. Are you okay?”

Barry closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, trying to keep from screaming again as the vine moved. The damn thing was releasing its grip now. _Here lies Barry Bluejeans_ , he thought, _he got outsmarted by a rhododendron._

“Yeah, babe. And I’m gonna see you real soon. I just wanted to make sure Taako got back okay with the Light.”  
  
The vine slithered off towards the main plant and Barry got a sinking feeling in his gut. What if separating it didn’t help? What if that piece was now just going to tell the main body of the plant where he was?

“I can’t wait, Bear. Look, Taako’s trying to get my attention, so-”

“Lup, wait.” He gasped the words out, soaked with fear. Sure, he’d died a few times on this mission so far. That didn’t mean he wanted to do it again or do it alone. “I...”

The fear was in her voice now too and Barry wondered if she’d realized he was lying. He’d never been very good at it, after all. Especially not with her and Taako. It was as if they read him like a book.

“Barry?”

“I love you, babe. More than anything.”

There were tears on his cheeks and he kept reminding himself: the start of the next cycle, he’d be back. They’d be together. This wasn’t for always.

“I love you too, Barry.”

The world around him was starting to darken.

“I’ll... I’ll see you real soon, Lup. Just... just as soon as I can.”

* * *

Lup was shaking, one hand covering her mouth. The tears that threatened when she had first heard the pain in Barry’s voice overflowed. The spell cut off suddenly, leaving Lup with a heavy weight in her chest, a hole where half of her heart should be. Taako was still there, still standing in front of her. He knew what a communication spell looked like from the outside and the only member the crew who wasn’t here was... Well. Barry. And there was only one reason Barry would use a communication spell instead of just coming back to the ship. Taako put his arms around his sister.

“He’ll be back soon.”


End file.
